Chapter 3
In this chapter we begin to see the darker side of life on a ranch and the characters emotions and personalities begin to come through. Summary Most of what happens within this chapter happens in the bunk house, such as Carlson bullying Candy into having his dog put down with a pistol shot to the head. While George sets up a game of cards after Candy sinks into a depression and everyone leaves him, Curley is looking for his wife and manages to get the idea that Slim is with her in a barn. When he returns, Lennie is in the bunk house being and had just been told the a more detailed story of the 'rabbits and the alfalfa' and Curley mistakes his reminiscent smiling for a mocking gesture. They get in a fight and it doesn't end well for Curley's small hand or Lennie's frail mind. Characters No new characters are introduced in this chapter but we learn a lot more about most of them. It turns out that Curley is even more volatile than was previously thought with him willing to start a very dangerous fight for such an insignificant reason. He is also incredibly defensive over his wife and not liked very much by his fellow ranch-workers. Lennie is found to hold far more aggression than would previously have been expected, he threatens to 'break (the) necks' of any cats which try to hurt his future rabbits or 'smash them with a stick' which just seems incredibly violent. In addition to this he manages to completely decimate Curley with a single movement in a fight. Despite this he retains his childish unknowing and fear throughout. George stays fairly passive in this chapter, seeming to be deep in thought playing with his cards and lazily telling a story to Lennie. Even in the fight he does not defend Lennie, rather he tells Lennie to simply fight back. Afterwards he consoles Lennie to try and soothe his nerves. The old man called Candy is revealed to be a more emotional person than most in the story and the death of his dog is very depressing to him. He remains sad throughout the chapter. On the other hand, Carlson who bullies Candy into having his dog killed and does the killing, seems to lack empathy and simply gets what he wants through frustrated persuasion. This is unlike Slim who remains cool throughout and doesn't seem to react much to a fight breaking out, neither does he support either fighter. He does however support the euthanasia of Candy's beloved dog which could be deemed unsympathetic. Setting Nothing of the setting is revealed in this chapter except that Slim's puppies are kept in a barn and that the bunk house has a table which can be used to play cards on. Themes and Writing Style There are a number of themes which come across to the reader in this chapter, and we begin to discover more about John Steinbeck's writing style. Firstly, we start to realise that Steinbeck rarely uses the narative to convey the characters emotions; all their feelings are shown to us either through speech or through the way they act. This is because John wished to distance himself from the characters, adding to the feeling that they truly are "the loneliest guys in the world." A theme which is shown to the reader is violence and anger through the actions of Curley and Lenny. When the fight occurs, Curley shows fierce agression towards Lenny, punching at him ferociously with his fist so it cuts Lenny. This conveys Curley's pent up anger to the reader, as well as showing him as a nasty character. Also, when Lenny crushed Curley's hand, this further shows violence through the pain Curley is caused. Conclusion and Final Comment Overall, we see in this Chapter that the ranch can be a very negative place to live where fights and violence occurs. Also we understand how deadly Lenny can be, even by accident, and this suggests that something may happen due to this in the following chapters.